Along The Garden Path

By Errol Reuben Fernandes

Father of Henry Maynard Primary School pupils and Senior Gardener for the Kenwood Estate in Hampstead reflects on the strange Summer of 2020 and shares some gardening tips for how to bed your garden down for the coming winter and following spring to benefit wildlife

Lockdown ended, the kids went back to school and now the October half-term is upon us. We’re creeping out of one of the strangest summers of our time, autumn has arrived, winter is just around the corner and we are all holding our breath for fear of another lockdown.

At a time when it felt we had no control over anything, the simple pleasure of planting a seed, investing hope and nurturing, provided a soothing balm to millions of new gardeners.

For many of us the restrictions due to the virus will have tested us to the very limit. However, there were also lots of positives to be found; Spending time with our families, having to slow the pace of our lives, discovering new outdoor spaces and many, perhaps for the first time, discovered gardening.

At a time when it felt that we had no control over anything, the simple pleasure of planting a seed, investing hope and nurturing it, provided a soothing balm to millions of new budding gardeners nationwide. Garden centres and online seed suppliers reported record sales of seed and compost in the weeks that followed lockdown. It seemed that so many of us turned to our innate need to grow things, whether you had a garden, balcony or window ledge to work with, we became a nation of gardeners, greening our patches.

It was during lockdown that I was approached by Heddy (at a safe distance) and he asked if I would like to write a *regular blog on gardening (I may also sneak in the occasional recipe too) for the FOHM website. It felt like a great idea, anybody who knows me, will tell you that the only thing I love more than gardening is talking about gardening, this is closely followed by my love of eating and feeding people. I have a daughter at the school who has just started year three and a son who has just started at the nursery and among other things I am the senior gardener for the Kenwood Estate in Hampstead.

So for me, it feels like I have just got myself a whole new bunch of gardening pals! Everyone now loves gardening and even though it may feel as though summer and the growing period is over, one could argue that this is only the beginning of the horticultural calendar. There is plenty to be getting on with in the garden and plenty that you can still enjoy. Don’t down tools yet! Invest your time well in the garden now and you will be richly rewarded throughout the year ahead.

...it may feel as though summer is over...but there is plenty to be getting on with in the garden...

One of the things I love most about gardening is the fact that it is a cyclical process; a gardener is always thinking and planning ahead. In each post that I make I will try and cover a few seasonal tasks that we can be doing in the garden and I will help to guide you through.

At this time of year it may feel like many plants and shrubs in the garden are past what we consider to be their best. However don’t be too quick to wield your secateurs. The seed heads and stems that remain, the structure of a plant that is left behind once the leaves have fallen and the muted, monochrome, bleached palette of these forms can all add to the beauty and elegance of your garden.

Allow these fading remains to catch the light, drop the last of their petals, scatter their seed and remind us of the energy and exuberance that the garden provided in spring and high summer. If they remain standing for a month or two longer they may even get to dazzle you with a crown of haw frost.

old kitchen garden at kenwood house with autumnal blooms — The Old Kitchen Garden at Kenwood House with the last of its summer blooms still offers food and shelter for birds before it will eventually collapse down for the winter

There are other benefits to a slow edit of your gradually-fading garden. The seeds of these plants will offer food to timid bird species such as tits, goldfinches and wrens and the slowly collapsing structure of these plants provides cover that will allow them to access it.

Allow these fading remains to catch the light, drop the last of their petals, scatter their seed and remind us of the energy and exuberance that the garden provided in spring and high summer

The hollow stems of herbaceous perennials provide shelter for many beneficial insects such as lacewings, parasitic wasps and solitary bees. They will hunker down in the hollows either as adults or larvae and emerge the following spring to assist you in keeping less welcome insects in check. Working in this way, with nature is a simple, yet effective way to avoid the need for harmful chemicals and the heartache and rage that can come with an infestation of unwanted pest. Aphid, snails, and a host of other hungry creatures emerge from dormancy when the weather warms in spring. This coincides with bud-break and so the feast and our battle to keep our beloved plants from being devoured commences. Gardening is about understanding and striking a balance. Provide cover for your gardening allies and they will gladly help you when the time comes.

Rather than gathering up garden material and consigning to the brown waste bin, make up compost heap...a simple pile...is more than adequate

As the winds and heavy rain buffet our gardens, there may be the need to tidy away a collapsed plant. Rather than gathering up this material and consigning to the brown waste bin, make a compost heap in a corner of the garden or behind the shed. There are all sorts of composting solutions available but a simple pile of material is more than adequate. In conservation management this kind of structure is created from a mixture of branches and foliage, it emulates what happens naturally and we call this a habitat pile. Arranged with some care, they can actually look rather attractive. Over the duration of winter, this material will breakdown, this process can be aided and sped up by turning it every month or so. In time you will have a crumbly, fibrous compost that is an ideal mulch that you can spread around your plants to suppress weeds, hold in moisture and help improve the structure of your soil.

habitat pile of compostable garden materials — Make a habitat pile in the garden (if you have a garden and the space) by piling up any compostable material from garden clean ups including collapsed plants, branches and foliage. Over Winter it breaks down to give you the ideal mulch to spread around your plants in the Spring to keep in moisture and suppress weeds.

Finally, it feels difficult to write about the garden at this time of year and not make any mention of bulbs. If ever there was a time when we need to feel hopeful and look forward to something positive in the months that lie ahead, it is now. As your garden performs its final act before the winter interval be sure to order some bulbs and bury them where you will be able to see them flower from the house in spring. I like to grow species that naturalise and form larger clumps over time.

bluebells on hampstead heath in spring time — Bury bulbs in the garden (if you have one) where you will be able to see them flower from your house in Spring. Bluebells like these ones on Hampstead Heath in the spring are one option while there are other recommendations in a list at the end of this blog post. Photo courtesy Laura Nolte

Choose a few different species that combine well and grow them, interspersed together. Consider the time that they will flower so that you can plan the display, pairing colours with the unfurling mounds of existing plants that will emerge in the garden at the same time.

Scatter bulbs among your borders and plant them where they fall to achieve a natural look. Take care to plant the bulbs at the right depth. Tulips perform better and will flower for years to come when planted deeply at six inches in the soil, this will also mean that they will remain undetected by squirrels. Eranthis is a wonderful, early spring addition and looks so fresh when it emerges alongside snowdrops (Galanthus). Plant Eranthis shallowly, just an inch below the surface of the soil. I have provided a failsafe combination for you to try below but experiment for yourself, think about the colours and ground conditions you have in the garden and support local suppliers to find spring-flowering bulbs that will work for you.

Narcissus ‘Silver Chimes’
Narcissus ‘Sophie Girl’
Narcissus ‘Actaea’
Galanthus Nivalis
Eranthis Hyemalis
Tulipa ‘Flaming Spring Green’

Tulipa ‘Apricot Beauty’
Tulipa ‘Queen Of Night’

Tulips perform better and will flower for years to come when planted deeply...where they will remain undetected by squirrels